Beirut  - Lebanon's western-backed ruling majority will rename Wednesday Fouad Seniora as Lebanon's prime minister in the new national unity cabinet, a government official said.

The newly-elected President Michel Suleiman started consultations with the parliamentary factions to appoint the new premier.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who is close to the Hezbollah-led opposition, said earlier this week that he would respect the majority's choice of prime minister and had backed Seniora as a new premier late Tuesday.

Seniora has been prime minister since July 2005, a few months after former premier Rafik Hariri was killed by a truck bomb. Outcry over the assassination forced Syria to end its 30 year-presence in the country.

With the support of the majority, Seniora is bound to get the premiership, which is allocated to a Sunni Muslim under Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing system.

Suleiman, army chief, was elected by parliament as a consensus president Sunday.

On May 21, Lebanese officials brokered a deal in Qatar following six days of fierce clashes between opposition supporters and the ruling majority in which 82 people were killed.

Under the terms of the Doha agreement, a 30-member national unity cabinet will be formed in which Hezbollah and its allies have veto power. The deal allocates 16 seats to the parliament majority, 11 to the opposition and three to be named by the president.

The accord came Hezbollah militia and their allies managed to control most of the Sunni Beirut who are loyal to the majority.

Mounting tension between the opposition and majority in the past two days saw two people killed including a Lebanese soldier and 20 injured. The clashes broke out on Monday night as Hezbollah followers fired shots in the air and rode motorbikes around a Sunni area, waving flags and saluting Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah as he delivered a speech.

The Interior Ministry on Tuesday banned the use of motorbikes, car parades, political party flags and provocative slogans in Beirut, in the hope of restoring calm. (dpa)